10 Weeks Post Op - Update on return to work

It's been 10 weeks since my surgery and over 2 weeks since I posted an update.  I keep thinking I need to post, but then not doing it.  This is my 5th week back at work.  I'm still part-time, but gradually moving up to more hours.  I started working about 3 hours per day.  Because I find mornings more difficult and have been sleeping late ever since surgery, I opted for working afternoons.  I started going into the office around 1:00 or 1:30 and working till 4:00-4:30.  I try to listen to my body and not overdo it.  One day I might only work 2 1/2 hours and then another day work 4. After the first 3 weeks, I was frustrated because it felt like I wasn't working any more hours at the end of the 3 weeks then I had at the beginning of the 3 weeks.  I checked my time sheet and found that I had actually increased my hours during those 3 weeks.  Averaging the number of hours worked each day, I found the first week I had averaged 3 hours 10 minutes, the second week 3 hours 25 minutes and the third week 3 hours 40 minutes.  Not a giant increase, but I was working about 15 minutes more each week.  I felt better, but still wondered how long it was going to take me to build to full-time.  At this pace, it would be August before I was doing 8 hour days.

I also found that I had no energy in the evening after work (part of the reason I haven't done a good job of updating this blog).  Before I went back to work, I had more energy to go for a walk or do other activities in the evening.  Since I returned to work, I was done for the day when I got home.  If there was something I wanted to do in the evening, I had to make a point of getting home earlier, so I would have a couple of hours of down time before trying to go out.

Last week, I continued my 15 minute increase and started the week at 4 hours a day.  Because of some special circumstances, I forced myself to work a little over 5 hours on Thursday and did OK with it, so I tried 5 hours again on Friday.  Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment so only got in 4 hours and got home about 4:00.  But the good news is I had more energy in the evening and was actually able to go for a walk with my husband.  Today I put in closer to 5 hours and had some family over for dinner tonight to see a friend that was in town.  I didn't get home early enough to have enough of a break before going to the grocery store and cooking dinner, so I'm tired.

But I am starting to think that full-time may get here within the next month or so.  We'll see.....